Hayavadana

Description

What defines who we are: the mind or the body? Girish Karnad’s masterpiece, Hayavadana, plunges into this timeless question with a brilliant blend of Indian myth, folk theatre, and startling modernity.

Devadatta, a man of intellect, and Kapila, a man of the body, are the closest of friends—"one mind, one heart." Their inseparable bond is tested when Devadatta marries the beautiful Padmini, and a complex love triangle emerges. A tragic turn of events leads to a miraculous, yet bewildering, solution: Padmini transposes the friends' heads onto each other's bodies, hoping to create the perfect man.

But this act unleashes a profound confusion of identities, challenging the very nature of selfhood, love, and desire. As the men's bodies begin to reclaim their original memories and instincts, Padmini finds herself trapped in a world of tangled relationships, questioning who her husband truly is.

Woven into this central narrative is the comic and poignant subplot of Hayavadana, a man with a horse's head, who is on his own desperate search for completeness.

Drawing from an ancient Sanskrit tale, reimagined through a modern lens, Karnad uses masks, dolls, and a story-within-a-story to create a bizarre and captivating world. Hayavadana is a profound and witty exploration of human identity, the limits imposed by nature, and the eternal, unfulfilled search for wholeness.

About the author

Girish Karnad was born in Matheran, near Bombay, in 1938. A Rhodes Scholar at Oxford (1960–63) and a Bhabha Fellow (1970–72), he is one of the foremost contemporary playwrights in India. He writes in Kannada. His first play, Yayati (1961), a retelling of the Hindu myth on the theme of responsibility, was a major success. Later, Hayavadana (1970) won the Natya Sangh award for Best Play of 1971.

This edition of the play contains an introduction by Kirtinath Kurtkoti.

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